I believe that. My first-pass filter for theories of why some people think SIAI is “arrogant” is whether the theory also explains, in equal quantity, why those same people find Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres to be an unbearably snotty little kid or whatever. If the theory is specialized to SIAI and doesn’t explain the large quantities of similar-sounding vitriol gotten by a character in a fanfiction in a widely different situation who happens to be written by the same author, then in all honesty I write it off pretty quickly. I wouldn’t mind understanding this better, but I’m looking for the detailed mechanics of the instinctive sub-second ick reaction experienced by a certain fraction of the population, not the verbal reasons they reach for afterward when they have to come up with a serious-sounding justification. I don’t believe it, frankly, any more than I believe that someone actually hates hates hates Methods because “Professor McGonagall is acting out of character”.
I once read a book on characterization. I forget the exact quote, but it went something like, “If you want to make your villian more believable, make him more intelligent.”
I thought my brain had misfired. But apparently, for the average reader it works.
I acquired my aversion to modesty before reading your stuff, and I seem to identify that “thing”, whatever it is shared by you and Harry, as “awesome” rather than “arrogant”.
You’re acting too big for your britches. You can’t save the world; you’re not Superman. Harry can’t invent new spells; he’s just a student. The proper response to that sort of criticism is to ignore it and (save the world / invent new spells) anyway. I don’t think there really is a way to make it go away without actually diminishing your ability to do awesome stuff.
FWIW I don’t ever recall having this reaction to Harry, though my memory is pretty bad and I think I’m easily manipulated by stories.
It may have something to do with being terse and blunt—this often makes the speaker seem as though they think they’re “better” than their interlocutors. I had a Polish professor for one of my calculus classes in undergrad who, being a Pole speaking english, naturally sounded very blunt to our American ears. There were several students in that class who just though he was an arrogant asshole who talked down to his students. I’m mostly speculating here though.
Self-reference and any more than a moderate degree of certainty about anything that isn’t considered normal by whoever happens to be listening are both (at least, in my experience) considered less than discreet.
Trying to demonstrate that one isn’t arrogant probably qualifies as arrogance, too.
I don’t know how useful this observation is, but I thought it was at least worth posting.
I believe that. My first-pass filter for theories of why some people think SIAI is “arrogant” is whether the theory also explains, in equal quantity, why those same people find Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres to be an unbearably snotty little kid or whatever. If the theory is specialized to SIAI and doesn’t explain the large quantities of similar-sounding vitriol gotten by a character in a fanfiction in a widely different situation who happens to be written by the same author, then in all honesty I write it off pretty quickly. I wouldn’t mind understanding this better, but I’m looking for the detailed mechanics of the instinctive sub-second ick reaction experienced by a certain fraction of the population, not the verbal reasons they reach for afterward when they have to come up with a serious-sounding justification. I don’t believe it, frankly, any more than I believe that someone actually hates hates hates Methods because “Professor McGonagall is acting out of character”.
I once read a book on characterization. I forget the exact quote, but it went something like, “If you want to make your villian more believable, make him more intelligent.”
I thought my brain had misfired. But apparently, for the average reader it works.
I acquired my aversion to modesty before reading your stuff, and I seem to identify that “thing”, whatever it is shared by you and Harry, as “awesome” rather than “arrogant”.
You’re acting too big for your britches. You can’t save the world; you’re not Superman. Harry can’t invent new spells; he’s just a student. The proper response to that sort of criticism is to ignore it and (save the world / invent new spells) anyway. I don’t think there really is a way to make it go away without actually diminishing your ability to do awesome stuff.
FWIW I don’t ever recall having this reaction to Harry, though my memory is pretty bad and I think I’m easily manipulated by stories.
It may have something to do with being terse and blunt—this often makes the speaker seem as though they think they’re “better” than their interlocutors. I had a Polish professor for one of my calculus classes in undergrad who, being a Pole speaking english, naturally sounded very blunt to our American ears. There were several students in that class who just though he was an arrogant asshole who talked down to his students. I’m mostly speculating here though.
Self-reference and any more than a moderate degree of certainty about anything that isn’t considered normal by whoever happens to be listening are both (at least, in my experience) considered less than discreet.
Trying to demonstrate that one isn’t arrogant probably qualifies as arrogance, too.
I don’t know how useful this observation is, but I thought it was at least worth posting.